Monday, November 29, 2010

Hope everyone had a great week-end - can you believe it's almost the end of November!! That means December is literally around the corner - or maybe even in my backyard, slowly creeping up on me!! I always have so many ideas for crafts, sewing and knitting projects for the holidays, and then at this time of the year I have to re-think my list.

I will be working on some Christmas cards this week along with a few gifts that have to be sent out of town. But first I want to show you what I did this weekend. After the Papertrey Ink Blog Hop I decided to make a few more tags for Christmas. I really wanted to include these in the blog hop, but never got them finished in time -- so here they are!!

Every year since I was a little girl, "Santa gifts" were always left unwrapped and grouped together for each child. On Christmas morning, (usually around 4 a.m.), my brothers and I would quietly creep into the living room to see what Santa had left for us. Then, we would take our stockings and the gifts back to bed to play and 'nap' until around 7 a.m. when we could 'officially' get up and gather around the Christmas tree.

This tradition continued when I had my own children - - - Santa gifts were never wrapped - they were left for my sons by the fireplace near their stockings. Even though my 'boys' are grown, we still do this. So .... I had the idea of making Santa Tags that could be used each Christmas.(wish I had them when the kids were little!)

I used the Tag Sale #1 die to cut out the white card stock and then stamped it with the Santa and holly images from PTI's set called Believe. A separate piece of card stock was stamped with the word "Believe".

The Canvas Impression plate was sponged with the lighter tea dye duo and then the tag and sentiment panel were embossed - this gave a distressed and old fashioned look to the tag. Before embossing, I masked the Santa image so he would not be affected by the ink transfer. The edges of the tag were also sponged with the darker of the tea dye duo and then faux stitching was created using a green marker.

The star was stamped, cut out, coloured with a Sakura Gelly Roll pen and then attached to the Santa image.

Everything was then layered onto green card stock, trimmed and layered onto the patterned paper and red card stock cut from the Library Card Tag die. Finally a white and red dotted ribbon was added to the top.

The backs of the tags were also decorated, using a variety of stamps to create a postcard effect.

I stamped the letters for my sons' names on to the patterned paper using Outline Alphabet and then cut them out (not sure I want to do that again!!)

The post mark, deer and sentiment are all from 2010 Holiday Tags and the snowflakes are from Peace Be Still.

I still had lots of patterned paper left so I made a card to add to my collection.

I used a Kraft card base and Santa is holding a small blue present instead of the star. The present was attached to the Santa image with dimensionals and then dotted with Diamond Stickles for a little sparkle.

The sentiment from Fillable Frames #8 was used on the front of the card.

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Design a holiday tag or two using all of your favorite goodies and share it with all of us!

I've made two designs for the Papertry Ink Challenge - one design for each of my sons.

Both tag styles start with the Tag Sale #1 die cut in Kraft card stock and sponged with white ink. I chose the cute little images and sentiments from Tiny Treats: Christmas, stamped with Black Memento Ink and coloured with copic markers. I then used the label die from Tea for Two to cut the images out.

I mounted the penguin image onto a red patterned paper that was stamped and cut with the Friendship Jar die and stamp set. After a cold day on the slopes, a cup of hot cocoa with marshmallows is always a great choice! (stamped with the image from Friendship Jars Holiday Fillers.)

Red dot sparkles were then added to the jar topper and the edges of the penguin die cut. Red and white striped ribbon finishes off the tag - ready for attaching to presents.

Gingerbread Man - "Sweetest Wishes"

This set of tags was made for my older son - he loves all things sweet, and each Christmas the gingerbread house, candies and cookies disappear very quickly !!

I started with the same Kraft tag and then stamped the "Homemade gingerbread" sentiment from the Friendship Jars Holiday Fillers over the tag. The coloured gingerbread image was mounted onto red gingham fabric (couldn't find gingham paper) and then an embroidery stitch on my sewing machine was used to create the frame around the edge.

A green felt and red rhinestone holly embellishment was added to the top of the tag and then finished off with the cute gingerbread and candy cane ribbon tied with Pure Poppy baker's twine.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

I have another card with more snowflakes!! It must be all the winter weather we've been having lately. Seems like all my cards this week have some snowy details.

I used Papertrey Ink's Wreath for All Seasons and added some snowflakes and glitter to the wreath and background paper for a unique winter look. This set is so versatile - it can be used for so many different occasions.

Here's the birthday card for my niece. She lives about 4 hours away from me so I wanted to make this card and get it into the mail this week - her birthday is at the end of November.

I stamped the berries on the wreath in two tones of lavender/purple and added glitter to the background paper with embossing powder and glamour dust. The photo doesn't seem to show all the glitz, but it is very sparkly IRL!

Sunday, November 21, 2010

It's another snowy Sunday here in North Western Ontario - a good day for a fire in the fireplace, some crafty time and a "snowy" Christmas card!!I've been trying to get started on my Christmas cards .... and here is my first set. I tried a variety of ideas using my new set from Papertrey Ink - Peace Be Still, and after several attempts (4 days of trial and error!!) this is the one that I liked the most. Once I finished the 'prototype', the others came together within 1 hour!

Yeah .... so now I have a set of 5 cards for my stash.

I used a colour scheme of white, a light blue-purple (indigo) and dark purple.

I cut the dove from white felt and added a small black pearl for the eye. The two snowflakes were made by stamping Versamark on one of the snowflake die cut from the Peace Be Still set and embossed with Iridescent Ice from Stampin'Up. A Martha Stewart snowflake punch was used to make two additional snowflakes that were glued to the white die cuts.

A sentiment from Holiday Wishes was stamped in purple onto the matching background card stock and then mounted onto white card stock.

The Cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder was used to add some detail to the indigo card stock and then it was sanded to reveal the white paper core. Pearls were added to the sentiment panel and the snowflakes for a final touch.

The inside of the card uses another sentiment from Holiday Wishes and a snowflake from Peace Be Still.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Here's the card I made for my sweet little grand niece who turned 2 on November 10th. She lives in New Zealand (it's spring there) so I thought the C.C. Design's August Honey would be perfect. Such a cute little girl with lots of "flower power"!!

I started with a variety of Rainbow Sherbetpatterned papers from Stampin'Up and added some of the solid card stock in Tempting Turquoise, Green Galore and Apricot Appeal. Honey was coloured with my copic markers and even though I don't have a lot of colours I did try to use the three main ones from the papers on her clothing and accessories.

After colouring Honey I carefully cut her out and attached the image to a piece of oval dotted paper. This was matted onto the turquoise paper and then sewn with my machine for added detail.The larger printed paper was mounted onto Apricot Appeal and sewn as well - then applied to the turquoise card base.

I used matching buttons tied with scrapper's floss ( the floss was coloured with copics).

A small flower punch was used to create 3 turquoise flowers that were attached to the apricot flower and held together with a brad. A small pearl was added to Honey's hair accessory.

I wanted to co-ordinate the inside of the card, so I added a bit of 'grass' to the bottom of the card and then added more punched flowers in the various colours. Stickles were used to create the flowers' centers.

I found the birthday poem on the internet, and printed it in a matching colour. Finally I sewed the inside panel to the card base - all ready for sweet little Mattie!

Monday, November 15, 2010

Here is what we woke up to on Sunday morning!! I guess it's officially winter in North Western Ontario!! Notice that shovel by the garage - it's going to see a work out for the next few months (at least 5 or 6 months- yes we have snow here until March or April!!)

It's certainly earlier than the last few years though. My husband has put away the lawn tractor and pulled out the snow blower.

So.... I decided to go to work in my crafty room and here's my latest project - a gift that is all packaged and ready for my sister-in-law's birthday tomorrow.

Recently I received some yummy goodies from Papertrey Ink - somehow I orderedtwo setsof Heather Nichol's Mini Scrapbook Series.Journaling Circles, so I decided that since my SIL is an avid scrapbooker, she might like a new journaling option.

I put the stamps into the CD case and then created "cards" for the front and back of the plastic box used to package the stamps. Here's what all the bits and pieces looked like before I packaged them together.

The "front" is shown on the far left; the CD case with the assembled stamp set is in

the middle and the stamped embellishments created for the back "card" are on the right.

This won't need to be "wrapped" , since "cards" will hide the "real"gift - the stamp set! Everything was placed into the plastic box with a brown ribbon and bow for the finishing touch!

FRONT: I started with a piece of beige parchment card stock and stamped Text Style I in Vintage Touch Tea Dye Duo and a border print from Tin Types using a bright pink ink. The edges were distressed using more of the Tea Dye Duo and then mounted onto a cinnamon spice card stock. The other details on the card include the Library card, with various stamps from the Mini Scrapbook Series: Tabs and Library Ledger. I used the Journaling Circle and the Limitless Layers to make the circle embellishment. The flower was made with the dies from Beautiful Blooms - cut, stamped with more Text Style I and Tea Dye Duo. I added some pink die cuts as well to give a little colour. The center of the flower and the accent on the journaling circle are little copper pearls.

Here's a closer look at the BACK

These images are ready to add to a scrapbook! My SIL has two grandsons and 1 grand daughter, so I added a blue and pink circle - thought she could use them for a scrapbook that includes the wee ones.

Limitless Layers was used to cut mats for all of the circles and then a few little "jewels" were added to some of them. Non- permanent glue was used to temporarily hold the circles onto the background paper.

Here is the Pull Up Tag card that I made earlier for my SIL's birthday. It uses various stamps from Close to My Heart, Clear Dollar Stamps and Stampin' Up. The paper has lots of floral pattern and colour, so I didn't need to do too much embellishing!!

I cut out a small flower from the paper and attached it to the front, then added a little white pearl. The photo corners were punched out and attached to the corners

When the tag is pulled up, you can see the various birthday sentiments - one on the tag from Stampin'Up, along with a flower stamp and a smaller sentiment in the 'window' - both from Clear Dollar Stamps.

Monday, November 8, 2010

Hello again! I still have a few cards to show from my husband's birthday in October. These are cards that my two sons gave him for his birthday.

Hockey is a very popular sport in our city - lots of NHL players hail from Thunder Bay - we've had Stanley Cup visits for three years with various hometown boys - Eric Staal from the Carolina Hurricanes, Jordan Staal from the Pittsburgh Penguins and Patrick Sharpe from the Chicago Blackhawks

BUT.....my DH is a life long die hard fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team. From September to May, the television is tuned into the TML hockey games - in hopes that they will make the Stanley Cup playoffs. The colours of blue and white are always a good starting point for a card for my DH... then throw in some maple leaf images and he's a happy guy!!

The first card uses a C.C.Design stamp called Balloon Trevor.The base of the card uses Rustic cream card stock and has been stamped with PTI's Polka Dot Basics I and a border of maple leaves.

Trevor was stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black onto white card stock and coloured with copic markers, before cutting the image out. I also paper pieced the shirt for some added pattern. The balloon was stamped on white card stock, cut out and applied to the original stamped image. A punched maple leaf in blue was added to the balloon and Crystal Effects was painted on for a glossy accent.

The blue argyle patterned paper behind the image was used for some contrast. The birthday sentiment was added with a vertical stamp. Finally, I used a piece of PTI's Pure Poppy baker's twine and tied it around a piece of blue and white striped ribbon.

On the inside of the card I used three 'tickets' and sentiments from PTI's Just the Ticket. I love this set - it's so versatile. for added contrast, I mounted each of them on blue card stock.

The second card uses Autumn Trevor image, stamped, coloured and cut out as I did above.

I used a Cuttlebug folder to create the swirls on the shimmery grey cardstock (I think it looks like ice). The punched maple leaf, the blue semi circle and the red/white line represents center ice. The small red dots are from Stamping Bella.

The birthday sentiment has been stamped on white card stock, and then matted on a small circle of blue card stock.

A white card stock panel was stamped with a sentiment from Close to My Heart, faux stitching was done with a blue marker and another maple leaf was added to the corner.

Monday, November 1, 2010

I made this tag for a baby shower last week, for my niece's sweet baby boy, Nathan. I had previously made cards for Nathan and his parents, so I decided that a gift tag would be just right for the occasion.

This card also meets the requirements of a challenge on the Papertrey Ink forum, hosted by BethieJ.

I used three PTI dies for the tag - the Library Tag Card die forms the base and the Tag Sale #1 die was used for the stamped image. The border die Just the Ticket was used across the bottom of the tag.

The image is Gigi the Giraffe from Clear Dollar Stamps and has been coloured with copic markers in yellow and blue. (I used this image to make a little girl's birthday card in pink and yellow here- so sweet and easy to colour).

The sentiment is from the stamp set Just the Ticket. I added the tiny blue buttons to each side of the sentiment panel and tied them with yellow embroidery floss.

About Me

After teaching for 31 years, I retired in order to spend more time travelling, gardening and crafting!! I have always loved to sew and knit, but after I left teaching I decided it was time to organize all of the family pictures into scrapbooks. I haven't gotten too far on that project, as I started taking card making classes at the local scrap booking store and then became fascinated with stamping... now I can be 'lost' in my crafty room for hours at a time!! I have two grown sons and a very understanding and supportive husband.